General Medical issues thread

[coriander]

Amusingly Dr FM used him as a practise patient (in spite of being a bit bigger and a lot older than her normal ones), the day before her clinical exam and she detected the murmur and sent him off to his GP for further investigation

About 15 years ago, a drug company was releasing a new veterinary cardiac drug. As part of their introductory deal they offered a top-of-range Littman Cardio stethescope with a $400 purchase of the drug. The rep handed me her demo stethescope, I placed it on my chest, listened and then said "wow, I'm going to make a fortune, this stethescope comes with a built-in murmur!" "No it doesn't" she replied.... then "oh no!" as it clicked as to what I'd just said.

I was about due for my check up so went to my GP and as he performed his exam I commented that I'd scored a Littman cardio stethescope but it was faulty as every time I listened to myself, I heard a murmur! He listened to my chest and said "yep, mine's got the same fault!"

Cardiologists faffed around with me for a couple of years then referred me for robotic surgery. Awesome - only in hospital for 3 days, back at work in 3 weeks. No ongoing "ratsak" required.
I will always remember the surgery date - 14 Feb - "couldn't be a better day to mend a broken heart" was my surgeon's comment!

 

[love_the_life]

About 15 years ago, a drug company was releasing a new veterinary cardiac drug. As part of their introductory deal they offered a top-of-range Littman Cardio stethescope with a $400 purchase of the drug. The rep handed me her demo stethescope, I placed it on my chest, listened and then said "wow, I'm going to make a fortune, this stethescope comes with a built-in murmur!" "No it doesn't" she replied.... then "oh no!" as it clicked as to what I'd just said.

I was about due for my check up so went to my GP and as he performed his exam I commented that I'd scored a Littman cardio stethescope but it was faulty as every time I listened to myself, I heard a murmur! He listened to my chest and said "yep, mine's got the same fault!"

Cardiologists faffed around with me for a couple of years then referred me for robotic surgery. Awesome - only in hospital for 3 days, back at work in 3 weeks. No ongoing "ratsak" required.
I will always remember the surgery date - 14 Feb - "couldn't be a better day to mend a broken heart" was my surgeon's comment!

Glad the14th Feb has good memories for you. That was the date I was told I had breast cancer and then 6 years later, the date FIL was killed in a train accident. I remember 14 Feb but for mostly the wrong reasons. Then again, I'm still here 28 years later.

 

[Renato1]

I went to my specialist yesterday to check on blood test results.
She said everything was fine - except for one thing - that I had very low vitamin D, and should start taking pills immediately

I was astounded, saying I spent heaps of time at the beach, and that it was only six weeks earlier I'd been sunning myself in Bangkok. She said that lots of people like me of Italian descent are wandering around Melbourne now also with Vitamin D deficiency, and not knowing it - there just isn't enough sun.

Anyhow, I guess this is reason enough to consider taking more vacations to warmer climates than we have been taking.during the cold weather.

Below is a link to symptoms of Vitamin D deficiency (I'd been affected by the first listed symptom for the last few weeks) (correction,, I meant the second symptom)

Best value Vitamin D pills I've found so far are 250 pills for just under $10 at Costco.
Cheers,
Renato

8 Signs and Symptoms of Vitamin D Deficiency

 

[Quickstatus]

I went to my specialist yesterday to check on blood test results.
She said everything was fine - except for one thing - that I had very low vitamin D, and should start taking pills immediately

I was astounded, saying I spent heaps of time at the beach, and that it was only six weeks earlier I'd been sunning myself in Bangkok. She said that lots of people like me of Italian descent are wandering around Melbourne now also with Vitamin D deficiency, and not knowing it - there just isn't enough sun.

Anyhow, I guess this is reason enough to consider taking more vacations to warmer climates than we have been taking.during the cold weather.

Below is a link to symptoms of Vitamin D deficiency (I'd been affected by the first listed symptom for the last few weeks)

Best value Vitamin D pills I've found so far are 250 pills for just under $10 at Costco.
Cheers,
Renato

8 Signs and Symptoms of Vitamin D Deficiency

Ther is no good evidence to support improvement of anything in that list or for that matter any other list with Vit D supplementation.

It’s one of those “it is quite benign in the right doses so might as well take it”

 

[Renato1]

Ther is no good evidence to support improvement of anything in that list or for that matter any other list with Vit D supplementation.

It’s one of those “it is quite benign in the right doses so might as well take it”

I'm not sure how you can say that, as every major point in that article has the little blue numbers that link to an authoritative article that back up what was said.
For example links No 21 and 22 that lead to these articles to do with depression. Why are they not good evidence?
Vitamin D and depressive symptoms in women during the winter: a pilot study. - PubMed - NCBI
Effects of vitamin D supplementation on symptoms of depression in overweight and obese subjects: randomized double blind trial. - PubMed - NCBI

Regards,
Renato

 

[Quickstatus]

9 patients do not make a study from which valid data can be extracted

Then look at more than one study. In fact Look for meta analyses:
Vitamin D supplementation for depressive symptoms: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. - PubMed - NCBI

Observational studies are the scientific studies with the weakest power

 

[Pushka]

I went to my specialist yesterday to check on blood test results.
She said everything was fine - except for one thing - that I had very low vitamin D, and should start taking pills immediately

I was astounded, saying I spent heaps of time at the beach, and that it was only six weeks earlier I'd been sunning myself in Bangkok. She said that lots of people like me of Italian descent are wandering around Melbourne now also with Vitamin D deficiency, and not knowing it - there just isn't enough sun.

Anyhow, I guess this is reason enough to consider taking more vacations to warmer climates than we have been taking.during the cold weather.

Below is a link to symptoms of Vitamin D deficiency (I'd been affected by the first listed symptom for the last few weeks) (correction,, I meant the second symptom)

Best value Vitamin D pills I've found so far are 250 pills for just under $10 at Costco.
Cheers,
Renato

8 Signs and Symptoms of Vitamin D Deficiency

I’m surprised the specialist didn’t recommend drops as they are more concentrated.

While your theory about taking holidays in sunny places is a good one it didn’t actually work this time, did it

Vitamin D deficiency is quite common amongst all people not just Italians. I’ve had the deficiency for years and it’s part of the auto immune scenario

It’s unusual to experience an actual symptom directly from the deficiency - what did you experience? Was it fatigue and tiredness you posted in that article? Probably not related. I can list multiple other issues that report the same symptoms.

 

[Renato1]

9 patients do not make a study from which valid data can be extracted

Then look at more than one study. In fact Look for meta analyses:
Vitamin D supplementation for depressive symptoms: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. - PubMed - NCBI

Observational studies are the scientific studies with the weakest power

Actually with a random sample of 9 patients one uses Student T distribution to calculate averages and standard deviation, where the standard deviation will necessarily be much greater than from using Normal distribution. Pretty pointless continuing a study along similar lines unless one gets a compelling result in the first instance.

And the 441 patients used in the other study I linked to appears to be a significant sample size to me.

The study you link to says,
"Subgroup analysis showed that vitamin D supplementation for participants with clinically significant depressive symptoms or depressive disorder had a moderate, statistically significant effect" and concludes with
"Vitamin D supplementation may be effective for reducing depressive symptoms in patients with clinically significant depression; however, further high-quality research is needed"

It seems to be contradicting itself to me.

Anyhow, it's all irrelevant to me. My late father was going badly incoherent, medical staff checked his Vitamin D - it was at zero. They gave him Vitamin D pills, and he came good again very quickly.
Regards,
Renato

 

[Quickstatus]

In the end if it works then it works.

How do you know whether the 441 is an adequate sample size?
There is a bit of math involved to work out if the sample size has the required power to detect a statistical significance. The lower the required alpha level the higher the required sample size, the higher the standard deviation the higher the required sample size necessary for the required power

A n=9 sample size is not significant sample size in any study irrespective of the statistical analysis.

And then statistical difference is a step away from scientific differemce

 

[Renato1]

I’m surprised the specialist didn’t recommend drops as they are more concentrated.

While your theory about taking holidays in sunny places is a good one it didn’t actually work this time, did it

Vitamin D deficiency is quite common amongst all people not just Italians. I’ve had the deficiency for years and it’s part of the auto immune scenario

It’s unusual to experience an actual symptom directly from the deficiency - what did you experience? Was it fatigue and tiredness you posted in that article? Probably not related. I can list multiple other issues that report the same symptoms.

At it's worst my symptoms had been getting up out of bed after a good night's seven hour sleep. Having a strong cup of coffee, mucking around on the computer for an hour, then having to go off to bed and sleeping another three or four hours - and waking up tired. Other times, the same but with a bigger gap before going to bed again - all this when most of the time I could easily get by on five or six hours sleep a night.

I suspect another factor which may marginally affect vitamin D is being in the Southern Hemisphere - we get eight days more of Autumn and Winter than they get in the Northern Hemisphere (where they get days more of Spring and Summer than we do).

I was wondering why my pills have liquid inside them.
Regards,
Renato

 

[Pushka]

At it's worst my symptoms had been getting up out of bed after a good night's seven hour sleep. Having a strong cup of coffee, mucking around on the computer for an hour, then having to go off to bed and sleeping another three or four hours - and waking up tired. Other times, the same but with a bigger gap before going to bed again - all this when most of the time I could easily get by on five or six hours sleep a night.

I suspect another factor which may marginally affect vitamin D is being in the Southern Hemisphere - we get eight days more of Autumn and Winter than they get in the Northern Hemisphere (where they get days more of Spring and Summer than we do).

I was wondering why my pills have liquid inside them.
Regards,
Renato

You have thyroid issues from memory? Those symptoms are very similar.

 

[Quickstatus]

Daytime somnolence = OSA?

 

[love_the_life]

If the pills seem to help Renato I'd keep on them regardless.

 

[Quickstatus]

Yes if it works, it works. But don’t discount the differential diagnoses

 

[love_the_life]

Yes if it works, it works. But don’t discount the differential diagnoses

Agreed and he should follow up alternative diagnoses but he shouldn't throw out the baby with the bathwater if it's working

 

[juddles]

Had a refresher course in Australian culture today.

A day before I scoot back overseas to my main life, I realised I was out of Allopurinol - a thing for gout. I strode into the local pharmac_, asked for what I needed, and they then asked to see my script! Of course I don't have one - almost everything in Sth America is "over-the-counter". The young lady tried to be helpful, giving me directions to a local medical practitioner where if I got an appointment I could get a script.

Another $100 or whatever it costs a foreigner to see a GP? No thanks - will wing it

 

[love_the_life]

Had a refresher course in Australian culture today.

A day before I scoot back overseas to my main life, I realised I was out of Allopurinol - a thing for gout. I strode into the local pharmac_, asked for what I needed, and they then asked to see my script! Of course I don't have one - almost everything in Sth America is "over-the-counter". The young lady tried to be helpful, giving me directions to a local medical practitioner where if I got an appointment I could get a script.

Another $100 or whatever it costs a foreigner to see a GP? No thanks - will wing it

Yep, you forgot! Almost everything here is ‘prescription only’

 

[Pushka]

Yep, you forgot! Almost everything here is ‘prescription only’

Indeed. I was somewhere in my travels os last month and saw that Clomid was on display. Now clomid is one of those drugs used in fertility treatment, it’s quite powerful, yet there it was, ready for anyone to purchase.

 

[Hvr]

I had the flu shot more than a month ago. And now I have the flu and will be off work for at least a week.

At least I have lots of television to watch and may even be able to find some jokes to post on AFF.

 

[JohnK]

I had the flu shot more than a month ago. And now I have the flu and will be off work for at least a week.

At least I have lots of television to watch and may even be able to find some jokes to post on AFF.

Didn't you also have the flu before you had the flu vaccine? Not easy in your line of work.

I was sick twice earlier this year but have been ok since the flu vaccine.